[OTA] Pumpkin Faces

[tangodebaston.livejournal.com]

The weather was somewhat back under control, a little chill but certainly not an unhealthy one. The snow was melting, and the colors were turning, and that made Juan Pedro want to be outside.

His youngest class was in the middle of the afternoon, after school, and he decided that instead of dance lessons, today they would carve pumpkins. He'd purchased a whole bunch of them, and had them set up in the green, and he surprised the kids by claiming a field trip where he took them outside, and presented to them their trip.

Pumpkins, paper, child safe scissors, child safe carving sets, glue, paint, brushes, a whole assortment of goodies to do up some great jack o lanterns. They wouldn't last til halloween but they'd certainly be a fun, creative way to spend an afternoon outdoors. And there were plenty of the orange squashes for more than just his students. If any adults or young people decided to come and join the fun, the better.

To keep in the mood of Spanish dance class, he'd set up a sound system that was playing latin music, as he sat down with the kids to start working on a pumpkin. So far, it seemed a great success.

Comments

[take2andcallme.livejournal.com]

"A good doctor goes where he's needed. I guess I could suffer through some homemade baked goods," Caleb said thoughtfully, leaning away from JP just in case he took mock offense. "Are we still on for dinner that night?"

For the last year or two, Thursdays and Saturdays had become the pair's usual dinner nights. Almost always, it was JP cooking; Caleb's few attempts at something more complicated than spaghetti had ended in some pretty creative disasters.

[tangodebaston.livejournal.com]

He beams, his nose scrunching a little as he smiles and sets aside the pumpkin with its lid, grabbing for another. "I am grateful that you suffer my impulses, Caleb." No doctors were hurt and no seeds were flung in the delivery of this message.

He nods, licking at the side of his mouth as he stares in concentration while he cuts the stem lid off the new pumpkin. "Claro, I will try not to make it something with calabaza, so you aren't bored of the flavor before the challenge."

JP didn't care if they were disasters. He was too polite, and too grateful for the attempt to do more than eat it, smile, and try to say positive things about the effort. He'd gotten food poisoning once, but Caleb was a doctor. He could medic up a solution to a problem he himself had created.

[take2andcallme.livejournal.com]

"Im pretty sure it's impossible for me to get bored with any of your food," he answered, eyes narrowed in concentration as he attempted to gauge the thickness of the rind he'd hollowed out. "And since your impulses usually end in delicious things, I can't say no. The usual time?"

The food poisoning incident was never spoken of aloud. That had been a fairly spectacular failure in itself, and was one of the reasons Caleb now left the cooking to the experts.

[tangodebaston.livejournal.com]

He smiles, blushing faintly at the compliment. Caleb had to be focusing hard to say that so smoothly to him. To say something he meant without censoring himself somehow.

"Gracias..." he whispered, looking pleased with himself and very touched, "A little earlier? 6:30 should be fine, and we can get to the castle by 7:00." One day, JP would have to teach Caleb how to cook. That's all that unspoken of incident meant. When they had time, if they ever had time.

[take2andcallme.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, time was something that seemed in short supply for them both these days. Aside from dinner and occasionally coffee or drinks, the two hadn't really seen much of each other in the last few months at least. Finally finished scraping, Caleb dumped the pumpkin guts into the bag on top of the others and sighed.

"I should really get back soon. Pretty sure the paperwork breeds when I'm not watching. Should I be expecting a missing finger or three later?"